The Upside of Air Travel With Children

I do not enjoy traveling with babies. Getting car seats and strollers through security; having little crawling people disappear under a sea of chairs and come out again eating things they found; being unable to console a little one whose ears are hurting on descent. Ugh. But as the babies have grown up into toddlers and then little boys, I’ve started to really enjoy traveling with them:

Constant stream of chatter combats boredom

They can carry the luggage (just kidding… mostly)

They ensure that snacks and water are always available

Sometimes they go above and beyond the call of duty on snacks; for example, my 3 year old is liable to sneak an uneaten half of a hamburger into his pocket; he’ll offer me a bite later if he sees I’m hungry

They get us into the “family” security line; this saved us about half an hour at SLC yesterday

The family restrooms that some airports have are usually roomy and clean

The kids actually enjoy air travel and are excited by jet engines; this is infectious and makes it more fun for everyone; even reading those stupid SkyMall catalogs can be entertaining if a 5 year old is commenting on it

1 thought on “The Upside of Air Travel With Children”

I can’t speak as a parent but as a kid, I loved air travel. We used to get dressed up for traveling, carry a special flight back pack filled with time wasting goodies.

Back in the day, kids were celebrities. Flight attendants (stewardesses, then) worked hard to make travel fun, had toys in their pockets and the pilots came out to give away wings. Remember wings? Gosh, remember pilots? I still have those wings and recently earned some new ones doing something nice for a flight crew… only is didn’t have a pin in the back anymore, just sticky tape. Not the same. Nope, travel is not the same.